[PDF] The Interlanguage Pragmatics of Japanese Daily Greetings by

View - Download The Interlanguage Pragmatics of Japanese Daily Greetings by

Previous PDF

Next PDF

GEMA Online

Journal of Language Studies

Volume 20(4), November 2020 http://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2004-07 eISSN: 2550-2131

ISSN: 1675-8021

113
The Interlanguage Pragmatics of Japanese Daily Greetings by Malaysian Learners

Jamila Mohd

a jamila@um.edu.my

Ambang Asuhan Jepun,

Pusat Asasi Sains,

Universiti Malaya, Malaysia

Jamaluddin Aziz

b jaywalk@ukm.edu.my Media Impact and Creative Industry Research Center,

Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia

Talaibek Musaev

musaev@um.edu.my

Faculty of Languages and Linguistics,

Universiti Malaya, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Scholars in pragmatics argue that the teaching of a second language (L2) must pay extra attention to the language forms and expressions within specific cultural contexts. Not being able to use a L2 according to the nature of its c ultural conte xt could sometime s lead to misunderstanding and miscommunication. This s tudy aim s to explain the interla nguage pragmatic transfer in daily gr eetings used by Malaysian learner s of J apanese. Using a convenient sampling technique, the respondents are 80 Malay students enrolling in a Japanese preparatory program prior to a ttending Japanese universit ies. Being compete nt in using Japanese language in context is therefore crucial for them. This study employs a qualitative research approach using Discourse Completion Tests ( DCT) and fol low-up int erviews. Shleykina's model of greetings is appropriated and used as the framework which allows data to be categorized into six patterns. The findings show that Malaysian learners chose to use less greetings when they greet their Japanese friends vis-a-vis their Malaysian friends. The types of Japanese greetings they use are mostly greeting expressions from what they have learned in the classrooms. Other casual greetings applied are learned from anime, dramas and Japanese TV programs. This study revealed that some of the Japanese greetings used are actually a direct translation from Bahasa Melayu. This pragmatic transfer has offered two perspectives, which are, success transfer and failure transfer. The results contribute towards the importance of exposure to and the understanding of the cultural context of a target language in choosing appropriate greetings among L2 in interlanguage context. Keywords: Pragmatic; Malaysian Learners; Japanese; Greetings; Interlanguage

INTRODUCTION

Pragmatics is the rules t hat govern all language system that give contextual meaning of language in use. It is also applied in second language teaching and learning contexts. One a

Main author

b

Corresponding author

GEMA Online

Journal of Language Studies

Volume 20(4), November 2020 http://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2004-07 eISSN: 2550-2131

ISSN: 1675-8021

114
reason for this is because language needs to be experienced by learners within its context (Stadler, 2018; Jiao et al., 2020) so that it is used competently (Kecskes et al., 2018). As language always has a cultural dimension to it (Stadler, 2018), the teaching of second language needs to pay extra attention to language form and expression within a specific cultural context (Ali et al., 2015). Traditionally, exposure to language use in context for second language learners was limited. Nonetheless, with globalization and the advancement of communication technology, students can expose themselves to language in context via the media. For instance, the study of Japanese language by Malaysian students can include watching anime, dramas, films, documentaries and even TV programs from Japan that are easily accessible via cable channels and even for free on the Internet. Despite this exposure, second language must also be formally taught to students as learning and acquiring new language is known to be different. And this becomes more essential in the case of students learning it for academic purpose. One important language component in pragmatics that is taught in the teaching and learning of a second language is greetings. Greetings are used in daily interactions as a means to keep social harmony and to communicate (Ebsworth, Brodman & Carpenter, 1996). Despite their deceptive simplicity, greetings are complex speech acts. Greetings are a significant aspect of politeness strategy, and governed by culturally specific social constraints (Nilsson et. al.,

2020). Hence, even in the same situation setting, greetings used by people from different

communities or countries are predictably diverse as speakers choose not only correc t expressions but also socially and culturally acceptable expressions. Although there are many definitions of pragmatics as offered by scholars such as Ariel (2010) and Allan (2012), for the purpose of this study, we believe Crystal's definition is most relevant: "Pragmatics is the study of language from the point of view of users, especially of the choices they make, the constraints they encounter in using language in social interaction and the effects their use of language has on other participants in the act of communication" (1985, p.240). Nevertheless, L2 learners are not starting at a zero baseline when they learn new languages since there are pragmatics universals in their native language (Kasper & Rose, 2002), which are common among all languages. The basis of pragmatics states that humans in society use language in different ways to achieve the same resul t (Todd, 2010). Pragmat ic competence enables people to use their language skills in order to achieve various general goals, such as communicating, thinking and remembering in different situations (Németh, 2004). Indeed, some scholars point that one of the fundamental factors in communication based on a cultural foundation is communicative behaviour, which has a dual structure, verbal and non-verbal (Grice, 1982; Sperber & Wilson,

2002). Looking at pragmatics in the context of L2, we also need to explore the field of

Interlanguage Pragmatics as it relates to the Second Language Acquisition Research and a subset of Pragmatics (Kasper & Blum-Kulka, 1993). Interlanguage Pragmatics examines L2 learners' knowledge, use and development in performing sociocultural functions whereby L2 learners need linguistic forms and skills to perform in the target language (Taguchi, 2017). Most studies on interlanguage pragmatics focused on the topics of requests (House & Kasper, 1987; Kasper, 1989; Koike, 1989), invitations (Mizushima, 2012), refusals (Takahashi & Beebe, 1987), complaints (Al Rashidi, 2017), apologies (Olshtain & Cohen, 1989), gratitude (Brodman & Eisenstein, 1988), greetings (Zeff, 2016; Inawati, 2016; Shleykina, 2019) and some other linguistic scenarios. In this study, we explain how interlanguage pragmatics take place on greeting which is the 'door' to most conversations. To do this, the present study aims at elucidating the pragmatics of Japanese daily greetings used by Malaysian learners.

GEMA Online

Journal of Language Studies

Volume 20(4), November 2020 http://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2004-07 eISSN: 2550-2131

ISSN: 1675-8021

115

GREETING AND INTERLANGUAGE PRAGMATICS

Greetings are basically divided into verbal greetings and non-verbal greetings. For non-verbal greetings, Jenkins (2007) listed shaking hands, holding both hands, touching and waving as some of non-verbal greetings in va rious cultures. Salmani-Nodoushan (2007) claim s that shaking hands and kissing cheeks as the most representative types of non-verbal greetings. However, Maysa'a (2010) claimed that when men are introduced, they generally shake hands while women do this less frequently. Meanwhile, Muslims observe gender and familial rules in their non-verbal conducts. The Japanese people greet each other non-verbally by bowing and the degree of bowing is decided by the level of social distance between them. In this study, non-verbal characters were not analyzed due to the method of data collection that was unable to observe that. On the other hand, verbal greetings are short or long utterances to greet other people or as an introduction to start a conversation. Verbal greeting is seen as an important component of pragma tic competence of those who lea rn a second language. Greetings are keys for establishing and maintaining contacts and for language learners serve "as a door to the target culture" (Kakiuchi, 2005). Used as an act of courtesy towards others, greetings are linked to politeness. Brown & Levinson (1987) introduced greeting as a 'face-saving' action based on the demonstration of positive politeness. Usami (2002) states that pragmatic politeness is a function of language m anipulat ion that works to m aintain smooth human relationships.

Meanwhile, Arma

u (2012) emphasize s that politeness is a fundamental element of interpersonal communication in all human cultures - its universality -, adding value to the human cultural background. Among the studies of politeness in a variety of cultures, Brown & Levinson (1987) politeness theory has become very influential, suggesting five strategies to deal with Face Threatening Act (FTA) namely; 1) bold on record, 2) positive politeness, 3) negative politeness, 4) off record, 5) not doing the FTA. However, their theory has been challenged by other scholars in various aspects such as its cross-cultural applicability and conceptualized politeness. Nevertheless, Brown & Levinson did not discuss politeness in the context of greetings in detail. The often-used definition of greetings is provided by Goffman (1971) who defines a greeting as access rituals, which serves as a bond to initiate social meetings of people by making a clear distinction between 'passing greeting' and 'engaging greeting'. According to him, 'passing greeting' is a non-binding greeting that does not involve social contact, while 'engaging greeting' is accompanied by an appeal of deeper interaction. In other words, both functions are similar to a switch that opens or closes relations. This understanding has been expanded in recent work of Nilsson et al., (2020), indicating that greetings can be a way to index the degree of social distance between interlocutors and thereby reflecting recurring cultural patterns. The understandi ng of greetings and their i nherent rela tionship with politeness has instrumental as well as pedagogical implications in second and foreign language classroom settings. Scholars such as Blum-Kulka (1991), Ochs (1996) and Kasper & Rose (2002) have long argued that second language learners already possess pragmatic knowledge and ability, since there are pragmatic universals common in all languages. As Schleicher (1997:334) states, 'the more speake rs understand the cultural context of greet ings, the better the society appreciates them, and the more they are regarded as well behaved'. According to Wei (2005), a language has two different symbols, where the first symbol is the communication, and the second is the presenter of culture. For second language learners, it is important to understand that the rules of communication are connected with both the culture, and the context, in order to ensure effective and efficient communication (Wei, 2009).

GEMA Online

Journal of Language Studies

Volume 20(4), November 2020 http://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2004-07 eISSN: 2550-2131

ISSN: 1675-8021

116
On the other hand, Zeff (2016) pointed out that the failure to properly use the greeting in another cultural environment often causes misunderstanding or inappropriate behavior that could be considered illiteracy. Another study by Inawati (2016) explores how greetings are linguistically presented in textbooks and whether adequate metapr agmatic information is provided to facilitate learning about greetings. Often, a second language is learned through textbooks with standard amounts of information, without thoroughly introducing pragmatic constructs. Inawati (2016) draws attention to this problem and points out that textbooks are not always an accurate source of pragmatic information. It shows how understanding of pragmatic concepts are important in second language learning. In Japanese language, honorifics are an important resource of interaction (Burdelski,

2013). For conversation, the speaker must choose between polite or plain styles according to

his/her relationship to the interlocutor. This choice is regardless of personal preferences and occurs without c onscious effort (Kikuchi, 1997; Usa mi, 2002; Jamila & Musaev, 2011). Basically, the speaker must use Teinei-tai (polite style) or Futsu-tai (plain style) at the end of every utterance, with age, social position, intimacy and conversational situation as main factors in determining which usage. Overshadowing these factors is the uchi-soto (in group-out group) concept which distinguis hes the relations between spea kers. Out-group inte rlocutors are strangers, people in higher position, customers, etc. On the other hand, in-group interlocutors are family, close friends, people in lower position, etc. Generally speaking, an out-group interlocutor must be honoured whereas an in-group interlocutor must be humbled. For instance, close contacts such as family members and cl ose friends do not use po lite style when communicating to each other. Using polite style will put distance in between them. On the other hand, Malay politeness is not determined by the sets of words or styles used but on how the interlocutors feel during the conversation, as stated by Asmah (1992:1): Penggunaan bahasa sehari-hari yang tidak menimbulkan kemarahan, kegusaran atau rasa kecil hati dari pihak yang lain boleh dikatakan mewakili penggunaan bahasa yang sopan/ The use of everyday's language that does not cause anger, anxiety or offence towards another party is said to represent polite language (our translation). Indirawati & Arina (2018) added that Malay politeness was formed by three factors which are role, power and differences in social status, titles and rules. Roswati et. al. (2017) claimed that Malay politeness are probably similar with Chinese poli teness in terms of emphasizing on friendliness and intim acy, but unfortunately these factors were not counted by local scholars when defining Malay politeness.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This study employs a qualitative research approach. The first research method used for this study is a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) questionnaire with social scenario as a prompt as proposed by Blum-Kulka et al. (1989). To verify the answers gathered from DCTs, follow-up in the form of in-depth interviews were carried out. Ebsworth, Brodman & Carpenter (1996) argue that there is a need for multiple measures, that is, by collecting data on greetings in more than one way. The observational data led to the creation of a questionnaire to elicit the primary data. Following this, the data from DCT helps to construct the in-depth interviews that ensue.

SAMPLING

Using a convenient sampling technique, the respondents of this research are 50 males and 30 females, a total of 80 Malaysian students from the Malay ethnic group. Their native language is Malay language or Bahasa Melayu. The respondents' age is 19 years old and in Year 2, Japanese Special Preparatory Program, Ambang Asuhan Jepun, Centre for Foundation Studies in Science, Universiti Malaya (henceforth AAJ). The program consists of four semesters. At

GEMA Online

Journal of Language Studies

Volume 20(4), November 2020 http://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2004-07 eISSN: 2550-2131

ISSN: 1675-8021

117
the time of data collection, the respondents have been studying Japanese in the program for about 16 months and about to finish Semester 3. As AAJ is an intensive program, at this stage, the respondents' level of Japanese is estim ated to demonst rate the level N3 of Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). Other than the Japanese language, the respondents also study Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry subjects. They studied these Science subjects in English during Semester 1 and in Japanese from Semester 2 onwards. The respondents are studying in AAJ prior to enrolling in under-graduate studies in Japanese universities.

BACKGROUND OF AAJ

AAJ is a two-year preparatory program situated at the Centr e for Foundation Studies i n Science, Universiti Malaya. This government to government program was initiated under Malaysia's Look East Policy Division, Public Service Department (JPA) back in 1982. It is a cooperation between the Universiti Malaya, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Tec hnology of Japan (MEXT) , as well as the Japan Foundation (JF). The Japanese language syllabus used is based on structural grammar syllabus to utilize reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The text books used for Japanese are brought from Japan. The aim of the program is to equip students with good command of Japanese language and good knowledge of Science subjects. Upon successfully finishing the program, students pursue their degrees in Japanese universities.

DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE

For data collection, a survey method of DCT and follow up interviews were employed. The

DTC survey was conducted on July 10

th , 2020. All 80 respondents were gathered in a lecture hall and explained about the survey and its procedure. The respondents were asked to answer the survey through Google Form on the same day. The respondent's response rate was 100%. The DCT survey was based on two open-ended questions. The respondents were asked to write their greetings in Bahasa Melayu to a Malaysian friend and greetings in Japanese to a Japanese friend for two daily situations or scenarios. Respondents had to imagine being in a situation with Japanese friend/classmate as what they will encounter in Japan. In AAJ, respondents are used to being around and communicating with Japanese teachers. Some respondents also have

Japanese friends.

The DCT items are listed below;

Situation 1: In the morning, you met a classmate in the classroom before the class starts. That classmate is of the same gender and your close friend. Please write greetings you will use to greet him/her. Situation 1(A): Greet your Malaysian classmate/close friend in Bahasa Melayu. Situation 1(B): Greet your Japanese classmate/close friend in Japanese. Situation 2: During lunch time, you met a classmate having lunch at the cafeteria/canteen. That classmate is of the same gender and your close friend. Please write greetings you will use to greet him/her. Situation 2(A): Greet your Malaysian classmate/close friend in Bahasa Melayu. Situation 2(B): Greet your Japanese classmate/close friend in Japanese. Next, the interview was conducted after Google Form surveys were analyzed. Based on the results, follow-up interviews were conducted individually a week later involving 80 respondents in Bahasa Melayu. An interview of each respondent took about 5 minutes and

GEMA Online

Journal of Language Studies

Volume 20(4), November 2020 http://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2004-07 eISSN: 2550-2131

ISSN: 1675-8021

118
notes were take n. Among the questions asked during the inter view were, the kind of greetings/expressions and reasons for using them, from where they learned those greetings/expressions, whether or not respondents translate Malay greetings into Japanese in the case of same meaning greetings were used, were the greetings meant for their meanings or just for the sake of saying something as to greet, etc. The respondents were also asked about their Japanese related activities outside the classrooms, as well as their motivations in studying

Japanese language.

FRAMEWORK OF ANALYSIS

In choosing the model of analysis for this paper, two models were studied. The first one was by Ebsworth et al. (1996). The second one is by Shleykina (2019). Ebsworth, et al. (1996) and Shleykina (2019) demonstrate precisely on how to classify greetings data. While Ebsworth et al. (1996) classify eight types of greetings, Shleykina introduces five categories. Ebsworth, et al. (1996) classify eight types of greetings by English native speakers which are :1) Greetings on the run; 2) Speedy greeting; 3) The chat; 4) The long greeting;

5) The intimate greeting; 6) All-business greeting; 7) The introductory greeting; and 8)

The re-greeting. Ebsworth, et al. (1996) model is precise but not quite suitable to classify the data of this study because it covers various specific situations whereas the study has specific groups of people and situations. Meanwhile, Shleykina (2019) divided English greetings in her study into: greetings proper, address terms, and elements of phatic communication and were coded as follows:

1. Greetings proper. This category was further divided into time-free/ time-bound and

formal/ informal variants. For example, "Hello" is time-free, neutral greeting proper; "Hey" is time-free, informal greeting proper; "Good afternoon" is time-bound, formal greeting proper.

2. Address terms. This category was further divided into personal names, university

titles (Doctor, Professor), honorifics (Mr./ Mrs., Sir/ Madam), and colloquial addresses (man, dude);

3. Phatic questions. This category was further divided into neutral (How are you?),

formal (How do you do?), and informal (What's up?) questions;

4. Phatic phrases. (Nice to see you/ Nice to meet you);

5. Situational greetings. This category includes contextualized or indivi dualized

phrases or questions which serve a s a greeting in specific ci rcumsta nces of the constructed dialogue. For example, the greeting "Hi, John! Shleykina (2019) model is more general and applicable with the data of this study. Thus, this study applies Shleykina's model with some amendments to suit Bahasa Melayu and Japanese greetings in the data. This is particularly important because Japanese language sentence and utterance including greetings are either in polite or plain styles (Kikuchi, 1997; Jamila & Musaev, 2011) so they have to be defined in the respective categories. Having appropriated Shleykina's model, all greetings in the data of this study are divided into 6 patterns as in Table 1:

TABLE 1. GREETING PATTERNS

1 Pattern 1 (P1): Formal Greetings:

The type of formal greetings basically learned from the text books and language classrooms. Formal greetings are i n complete form and s tyle. For example:

Assalamualaikum /Peace be upon You,

GEMA Online

Journal of Language Studies

Volume 20(4), November 2020 http://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2004-07 eISSN: 2550-2131

ISSN: 1675-8021

119
Ohayou Gozaimasu/Selamat Pagi /Good Morning, Konnichiwa/Selamat Tengahari /Good Afternoon/Hello, Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu /Please, Otsukaresama desu /Good job, etc.

2 Pattern 2 (P2): Informal Greetings:

These greetings are the informal and shorter version of Pattern 1. For example: Hai /Hi, Helo /Hello, Pagi/Ohayou/Ohayo /Morning, Yoroshiku /Please, Otsukare /Good job, etc.

3 Pattern 3 (P3): Casual Greetings:

A slang form of Hi!.

For example: Oi, Wei, Yo, Hei, Uii / Yahhoo, Ossu, Ya. [a form of greeting probably derived from popular culture such as anime or rap music].

4 Pattern 4 (P4): Address Greetings:

Greet by calling the name of the interlocutor.

For example: (Nama kawan/Tomodachi no namae/~san)/ (Name of a friend). Note: Respondents just wrote something that means "name of a friend" but did not write any actual names. This is from the raw data.

5 Pattern 5 (P5): Phatic Greetings:

Apa khabar? /How are you?, Genki/Sihat? /Are you well?,

Sudah makan? /Have you eaten?

6 Pattern 6 (P6): Situation Focused Greetings:

Contextualized or individualized phrases or questions in specific settings or situations. Any type of words and sentences used to greet and no specific rules guided as in the language textbooks or classrooms. These types of greetings are influenced by socio-linguistics contexts. For example, Buat apa tu?/ Nani shiteru no? /What are you doing?, Tengah makan ke? /Are you eating?, etc. The analysis of the result of DCT is based on a theoretical concept of interlanguage pragmatics that focuses on non-native speakers' comprehension and production of speech acts (Kasper & Dahl, 1991) within the area of pragmatic trans fer. Thes e are true in ca se the respondents translated Malay greetings into Japanese. The interviews are used to help explain the answers given in DCT.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

The analysis of the data is presented and discussed here. The data is analyzed based on the two situations/scenarios provided in the DCT survey. Bahasa Melayu and Japanese greetings data was analyzed and coded into six greeting patterns according to the model explained earlier. Later, the respondents' Japanese greetings were compared to their Bahasa Melayu greetings in order to identify elements of pragmatic patterns and pragmatic transfer.

ANALYSIS SITUATION 1

Situation 1: In the morning, you met a classmate in the classroom before the class starts. That classmate is of the same gender and your close friend. Please write greetings you will use to greet him/her. Situation 1(A): Greet your Malaysian classmate/close friend in Bahasa Melayu. Situation 1(B): Greet your Japanese classmate/close friend in Japanese.

GEMA Online

Journal of Language Studies

Volume 20(4), November 2020 http://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2004-07 eISSN: 2550-2131

ISSN: 1675-8021

120
In situation 1(A), as shown in Table 2, 14 types of greeting patterns in Bahasa Melayu were used. 62 (77.5%) respondents chose to use a single pattern of greetings to their classmates. Among them, 29 respondents (36%) use Pattern 1 with the most is Assalamualaikum /Peace be upon you, followed by Selamat Pagi /Good Morning. Assalamualaikum is an Arabic phrase, meaning "Peace be upon you" and is a common greeting among Muslims around the world regardless of their language background including i n Malaysia; therefore, the express ion Assalamualaikum is used as it is in this paper. 23 respondents (29%) use Pattern 2, with mostly saying Hai/Hi. Five respondents (6%) use Pattern 6, four respondents (5%) use Pattern 3 and one respondent (1%) uses Pattern 5. Pattern 4 was not used in this situation. Next, 18 respondents (22. 5%) use a combination of two greeting patterns. Five respondents (6%) combine Pattern 2 a nd Pattern 4. For example, "Hai + (name of the classmate)". 4 respondents (5%) combine Pattern 1 and Pattern 5 (Assalamualaikum, sihat? /Are you well?, Assalamualaikum, dah makan? /Have you eaten?). Two respondents (2.5%) each combine Pattern 1 and Pattern 4 (Assalamualaikum + (name of the classmate)), Pattern 3 and Patt ern 4 (Hei + (nam e of the classmat e)), r espectivel y. One respondent (1%) each combines Pattern 1 and Pattern 2 (Assalamualaikum, Hai /Hi), Pattern 2 and Pattern 5 (Hai, sihat? /Hi, Are you well?), Pattern 2 and Pattern 6 (Hai, kerja sekolah dah siap? /Hi, have you done your homework?), Pattern 3 and Pattern 1 (Uii, Selamat pagi / Uii, Good morning), as well as Pattern 3 and Pattern 5 (Yo, dah makan? /Yo, have you eaten?). Interestingly, the greeting Dah makan? /Have you eaten? was used by three respondentsquotesdbs_dbs12.pdfusesText_18

[PDF] greetings in spanish

[PDF] Greetings in the classroom

[PDF] greetings island

[PDF] greetings meaning

[PDF] greetings synonym

[PDF] Greetings · Les salutations. English sentences. French sentences. Category. Hi. / Bye. Salut. Informal. Hello (the normal greeting; all day). Bonjour.

[PDF] greve 5 decembre sujet

[PDF] grevisse cahier d'exercices 5ème

[PDF] GRILLE d'EVALUATION DISSERTATION LITTERAIRE

[PDF] Grille de 100 A imprimer

[PDF] Grille de 100 vide

[PDF] Grille de centièmes

[PDF] groupe d'atomes liés entre eux

[PDF] Groupe fonctionnel chimie

[PDF] Groupe infinitif exemple